When I played--baseball--I typically picked a pitch and location for the first pitch. Sort of the same thought process I like hitters to take at 2-0 or 3-1. If it was there--hit it. If not, let it go. Something that I notice (esp the younger ages) is that kids don't seem to approach at-bats with the attitude that they're going to hit every pitch until they determine it's not a strike.
Swinging at first pitch vs working the count
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While watching college SB on TV recently, it seems almost every single time, regardless of team or pitcher. The first pitch on about 90% of batters is a dead red, belt high meatball... and the batter doesn't even flinch to start her swing???
- May 4, 2012
- 335
- 16
My experience is ltd up to 14u. Now we have pitchers with pretty good control. As mentioned earlier, pitchers are taugh/ want to get on top early. They get the first pitch strike, then they will throw much harder to handle pitch nxt. As much as we coach our hitters in regard to what good pitchers do, on days that we aren't aggressive they inevitably get chewed up. Take fat fb down pipe, stress out chase throwaway pitch, down 0-2 stress more chase another and head to dug out
I imagine at the nxt level, the fb fattie first pitch won't be there as often and going deeps approach will work as billed/ statistically supported
obbay
Banned
My opinion is biased by what I experienced with my DD in U14 - U18 and HS. Also I believe in Ted Williams and he said to see as many pitches as you can.
When she was 13, she played on a U16 rec team and the coach encouraged players to work the count and go deep. DD learned this and became very good at it. for years later she was an excellent two strike hitter. HS coach wanted everyone swinging at the first pitch and I saw a lot of 4 pitch innings. Then DDs winter/indoor team coach started getting the girls to swing early "because sometimes that's going to be the best pitch you see". Overall, that team did well, but I saw a lot of times where good batters needlessly went down in one or two pitches. DDs AVG dropped from low .500s to mid .200s.
So my experience has been that when a batter is required to jump on an early pitch, the result is usually compromised. whereas when batters are allowed to go deeper into the count, the pitcher throws more pitches and there are no less base hits. the quality of the hits tends to be better (my experience only-just what I observed) and your team stays at bat longer. nothing can kill momentum better than a 1, 2, 3 inning with less than 10 pitches thrown. If my team is going to go down 1-2-3 I want them to use 10 pitches per at-bat!
Yes the first pitch may be a strike but that doesn't mean a teenage player can hit it where she wants. I think an experienced batter is better prepared to hit after seeing a couple of pitches.
When she was 13, she played on a U16 rec team and the coach encouraged players to work the count and go deep. DD learned this and became very good at it. for years later she was an excellent two strike hitter. HS coach wanted everyone swinging at the first pitch and I saw a lot of 4 pitch innings. Then DDs winter/indoor team coach started getting the girls to swing early "because sometimes that's going to be the best pitch you see". Overall, that team did well, but I saw a lot of times where good batters needlessly went down in one or two pitches. DDs AVG dropped from low .500s to mid .200s.
So my experience has been that when a batter is required to jump on an early pitch, the result is usually compromised. whereas when batters are allowed to go deeper into the count, the pitcher throws more pitches and there are no less base hits. the quality of the hits tends to be better (my experience only-just what I observed) and your team stays at bat longer. nothing can kill momentum better than a 1, 2, 3 inning with less than 10 pitches thrown. If my team is going to go down 1-2-3 I want them to use 10 pitches per at-bat!
Yes the first pitch may be a strike but that doesn't mean a teenage player can hit it where she wants. I think an experienced batter is better prepared to hit after seeing a couple of pitches.
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Just observing our HS team (most like to free swing at the 1st pitch), I would venture to guess it has been 85-90% failure rate. Most balls hit have been weak ground balls to the left side.
A couple of points ... I am not a coach but played and still play ball. I kept the books for a tournament for DD's team 14U and noticed our first inning first pitch swings that ended up in the playing field almost always were two hop bunnies to SS mostly.
I tracked our on base percentage with seeing 1-2 pitches vs 3 or more pitches (not scientific .. just my breakout). Our ob overall for tourney with 1-2 pitches seend was 210 and > 3 was 400. We had substantially more BB. Also girls who had long at-bats were given praise for hanging in there and more often than not ... ended up with base hits the next time. Not scientific but anecdotal analysis.
The first pitch swing outcomes occurred whether it was 1st, 2nd or 3rd time seeing pitcher.
This was a small sample .. only 7 games but it was proving itself over and over. It did not affect our strikeouts .. we only had 6 in the 7 games so getting down 1-2 or 0-2 did not translate into increased K's.
What I saw was girls afraid to get into the two strike count, this was the reason given by the girls as to hitting earlier in the count ... not that it was a quality pitch to hit. It was avoid the K at all costs.
What I noticed would change how I would teach girls to hit ... forget the swing but teach them to use what they have more efficiently and more confidently. The best hitters can and do hit with 2 strikes. My DD is a confident 2 strike hitter (she is a 400 hitter this season) , she says it doesn't bother her being down in count. She had a 10 pitch at bat and ended up lacing a change into right center, the best part was the coach had no idea what to throw her. I noticed girls who are not afraid of 2 strike counts go deeper into counts with much more regularity.
I saw what many others saw here. At 14u they need to begin to make the transition (for some at least) to approaches to hitting. I think they can handle it.
I tried to show the coach the trends I was seeing and what happened was he said don't swing until a strike, yuck. What reinforced me was he does not coach well and hence we are moving on.
I tracked our on base percentage with seeing 1-2 pitches vs 3 or more pitches (not scientific .. just my breakout). Our ob overall for tourney with 1-2 pitches seend was 210 and > 3 was 400. We had substantially more BB. Also girls who had long at-bats were given praise for hanging in there and more often than not ... ended up with base hits the next time. Not scientific but anecdotal analysis.
The first pitch swing outcomes occurred whether it was 1st, 2nd or 3rd time seeing pitcher.
This was a small sample .. only 7 games but it was proving itself over and over. It did not affect our strikeouts .. we only had 6 in the 7 games so getting down 1-2 or 0-2 did not translate into increased K's.
What I saw was girls afraid to get into the two strike count, this was the reason given by the girls as to hitting earlier in the count ... not that it was a quality pitch to hit. It was avoid the K at all costs.
What I noticed would change how I would teach girls to hit ... forget the swing but teach them to use what they have more efficiently and more confidently. The best hitters can and do hit with 2 strikes. My DD is a confident 2 strike hitter (she is a 400 hitter this season) , she says it doesn't bother her being down in count. She had a 10 pitch at bat and ended up lacing a change into right center, the best part was the coach had no idea what to throw her. I noticed girls who are not afraid of 2 strike counts go deeper into counts with much more regularity.
I saw what many others saw here. At 14u they need to begin to make the transition (for some at least) to approaches to hitting. I think they can handle it.
I tried to show the coach the trends I was seeing and what happened was he said don't swing until a strike, yuck. What reinforced me was he does not coach well and hence we are moving on.
I think a lot depends on the kid. My DD takes a lot of pitches, but it doesn't bother her to hit with 2 strikes. Other kids have problems with 2 strikes so they need to be more aggressive. I favor shrinking the zone on the first pitch, but not to automatically not swing. If they are just pouring the first pitch over the plate at some point get up and hit it.
- May 7, 2012
- 47
- 0
Do it the Billy Beane way, work the count to your advantage. If your pitch is the first one you see, crush it.
